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Antimicrobial resistance

Immunocompromised

Persons with a weakened immune system. This includes those with AIDS and cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Tuberculosis

A communicable disease caused by bacteria. It affects millions of people around the world and can be cured by antibiotics, but increasingly the pathogenic bacteria are becoming resistant to the most widely used antibiotics.

prokaryotic

A unicellular organism that lacks a membrane bound nucleus or any other membrane bound organelle.

Eukaryotic cells

Cells that make up animals, plants, fungi and protista. They are three-dimensional, membrane-bound sacs containing cytoplasm, a nucleus and a range of membrane-bound organelles.

Protozoa

Protozoa are one-celled animals

Bacteria

Single-celled organism. Has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm. Its DNA is loosely-coiled in the cytoplasm and there is no distinct nucleus

Glossary

A list of often difficult or specialised words with their definitions.

Virus

The smallest of living organisms. Viruses are made up of a ball of protein that contains a small amount of the virus DNA. They can only reproduce after they have infected a host cell

Fungi

Fungi (singular fungus) are either uni-cellular, as in yeasts, or multi-cellular, as in mushrooms, toadstools and moulds. Fungi have a nucleus, cytoplasm and a cell wall

Antimicrobial Resistance

These microorganisms all differ in size and structure. One key difference between bacteria and fungi is that bacteria are prokaryotic and fungi are eukaryotic. For more information on this have a look at pathogens and the immune system.

Bacteria can cause a range of infections including tonsillitis (usually caused by Streptococcus pyogenes) and tuberculosis (caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis).

Antimicrobial medicines treat a range of infections- they are vital in today’s society. Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem. In 2016, approximately 700,000 people died due to antimicrobial resistance. If nothing changes, by 2050 antimicrobial resistance will result in 10 million deaths per year. Antimicrobial resistance is a huge threat to global health - we must take action!

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